Peyote, a species of mescal cactus known for its hallucinogenic effects, is the ESSENCE of a traditional ritual performed by the Huichol people. It contains more than twenty-5 different kINDS of ALKAloids, with mescaline the most active ingredient, and has BEEN used by Mexican Indians 4 millennia to enhance communication with the GODS. Peyote DOESn't grow high up on the Sierra Madre Occidental where the Huichol live, so tHEY must make an aNNUAL pilgrimage of 500km to the dESErt of SAN Luis POTOSI to collect the cactus. It used to be a 20-day walk, but these days the pilgrimage is made by bus, and the Huichol throW offerings out the WINdows when the bus passes sACREd sites but does not stop. The PEYOTE plant, being dun coloured like the desert earth from which it emerges, is not easy to find. It takes 3 days to collect fifteen kilos of the buttons, most of which are DRIED and taken home. Everyone eats peyote when the pilgrims return, even the children, who wash it down with CHOCOLATE MILK.

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